Consumers' Increasing Reliance on Facebook and Other Social Trends - Slide 9

The popularity of online shopping has increased by 10 percent as a share of total purchases (49 percent now, up from 39 percent in March). In addition consumers are increasingly beginning their research online for all purchases (46 percent now, up from 40 percent in March).

The astonishing speed with which the consumer purchase journey is becoming social was revealed recently by new figures from social commerce company Reevoo. The company has just repeated research first conducted in March 2011, with results showing that the reliance on social sources – including friends and consumer reviews – is increasing rapidly by almost every measure and, intriguingly, across all age groups.

Richard Anson, founder and CEO of Reevoo, said: “In repeating this research so soon after we first conducted it, we hoped to identify the rate at which the consumer purchase journey is becoming social, and the speed at which it is becoming an accepted part of our shopping lives. The results have certainly confirmed our view that it is, indeed, a rapid process, and that it is a phenomenon that is touching and changing the behavior of all age groups.

“We have said for some time how vital it is that marketers who have so far ignored social commerce need to look at it very seriously, now. Many brands are translating these social changes into revenue, while those that don’t will be left behind – and now we can see just how fast they might be receding into the distance.”